Hurry Home
by salamandragora
Summary: A weary undead stumbles upon a being that doesn't try to kill her on sight. An exiled crossbreed encounters an undead that smiles and laughs despite her fate. Priscilla and the Chosen Undead slowly form a friendship that will change both them and possibly the future of Lordran itself.
1. Chapter 1

"Who art thou? One of us, thou art not. If thou hast misstepped into this world, plunge down from the plank, and hurry home. If thou seekest I, thine desires shall be requited not. Thou must returneth whence thou came. This land is peaceful, its inhabitants kind, but thou dost not belong. I beg of thee, plunge down from the plank, and hurry home."

The Undead before her was hardly an imposing one. Acidic burns covered her exposed arms, blood still dripped from a wound in her side, and the katana in her hands was chipped and dull. She suddenly sunk to her knees in the snow and gradually caught her breath, staring up at Priscilla as though she were seeing an angel.

"Oh sweet gods. Praise the sun. You're seriously... not going to try to kill me?"

Priscilla regarded the young woman curiously and shook her head very slightly even though she kept her scythe clutched in firm hands.

"Then you are..." The young woman continued to speak in a broken manner between her quiet chuckles and her exhausted breaths. "...the greatest miracle in all of Lordran. Oh sweet gods." She left her weapon on the ground and flopped onto her back, chest rising and falling more gradually now as she had gotten some of her wind back. "Sorry, I'll leave in just a minute. It's just that as soon as I do, those painting ninja bastards are going be there trying to turn me into a finely minced appetizer."

There were a few minutes that became increasingly awkward for Priscilla as the Undead lay there recovering her strength and staring up into the gently drifting snow. Priscilla fully intended to put her foot down and have her leave at once, but for some reason this person seemed so nonthreatening at the moment that she couldn't bring herself to do so. Granted, this Undead had harmed her friends on her way here, but by the power of the Bonfires that reached even into this painted world, they would not be gone for long. And the Undead seemed to have suffered appropriately for whatever harm she had done.

At long last the Undead returned to her feet and sheathed her weapon. Surprisingly, in a flash she stood with spine straight and heels clicked together, following it up with a flawless bow.

"I apologize sincerely for my intrusion. I cannot properly express my gratitude for the hospitality you presented me with. Trite though it may have seemed to you, it was a very welcome respite in this unforgiving world."

"...Think naught of it."

She didn't quite know what else to say. The Undead raised her head and smiled upwards, just as quickly returning to her laid back stance and attitude.

"Now, you said something about the way out of here, right?"

Priscilla turned and gestured behind her.

"Plunge down from the plank, and thou shalt be returned unto the world from whence thou hast come."

"...Come again? Look, I appreciate a practical joke as much as the next Undead," which was a lie, and her fists suddenly clenched in a moment of fury as she recalled her time in Sen's fortress, "but if I do that I'm going to have to hack and slash my way back here, and I am very, very much not in the mood."

Priscilla gave an almost imperceptible sigh.

"I deceive thee not. Beyond lies the one true exit to this place."

The Undead swallowed nervously and crept past Priscilla, tentatively walking onto the broken outcropping. She looked back, but Priscilla remained in the center of the tower watching her. Certain now that she would not be pushed, (did she have some sort of bad experience related to that?) the young woman peered over the edge and then stepped back immediately with a shudder. Time passed.

"...You have my vow that I tell the tr—"

"N-n-no, I believe you. I just..." The Undead took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Priscilla didn't quite catch what she said next as she muttered it under her breath. "...trick... last humanity until..."

But then she abruptly cut herself off, closed her eyes, and stepped out into empty air.

She proceeded to scream all the way down.

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First upload! Thanks for reading, and please review if you have any thoughts!


	2. Chapter 2

"Who art thou? One of us, thou art not. If thou hast misstepped into..." Priscilla stopped as she was assailed with a strange sense of recollection. "Art thou..."

"Hello! Again." With her armor, weapon, and flesh in relatively good shape, Priscilla hardly recognized the Undead at first. But upon closer inspection it wasn't hard to confirm. She didn't get many visitors, after all. "Sorry to bother you. Ah, but I did my best to pass through without having to hurt many of your friends." She sighed and looked a little weary. "They're very persistent though."

"I... thank thee for doing thine best to spare the denizens of this place. Such conflict, however, would be circumvented if you were to refrain from coming hither in the first place."

The Undead looked, of all things, sheepish and laughed nervously.

"Ah hah hah... yeah, sorry about that. It's just that I, uh... well, there was something I realized I wanted to do here."

"Well if thou art quite finished, then please—"

"Here." Priscilla blinked in surprise as the Undead took a basket down from her back and lowered it to the stone with a gentle puff of snow. "I wanted to thank you for, well, not killing me last time we met." She opened the top and started exposing the contents. "Andre told me about some wild grains he found and we were actually able to make some bread! Other than that, I figured that since nothing really grows here you might miss fruit, so I went around to my favorite spots and grabbed you some apples and wild berries. And even though they did try to peck my eyes out, I brought your bird friends some fish. To be honest, I'm not really that nice, but the fish taste pretty terrible to me, so they're more or less my rejects, which is the only reason..."

She continued. Priscilla, meanwhile, stared at her uncomprehending. Her eyes worked, certainly, as did her ears. But despite this she simply could not make sense of what was happening. This Undead... had come back, despite the horrors she suffered, simply to give... a gift? Distant memories from her youth in Lordran's court came back to her, and for a moment she decided that this wanderer must be currying favor with her for some—

Some... what? Priscilla was a captive. An exile. Master of only the snow and stone upon which she stood. She had nothing to offer. Nothing save legendary ferocity and a promise of nearly certain death if angered. And yet...

"...so don't eat it all at once, ok?"

"If I may be so rude in the presence of a bountiful gift... Why? Why dost thou traverse these hostile spires simply to present... such a thing?"

The young woman beamed with her sheepish grin again.

"Well for starters, as I keep saying, you didn't try to kill me. I don't know how long it's been since you were outside, but that's a pretty rare trait in Lordran these days! B-but that's not the only reason. I mean, it's..." Priscilla was surprised when she saw the outgoing and boisterous Undead suddenly look down in honest embarrassment. "It's lonely. I-In this world. Not here specifically, but, Lordran and what have you—the whole place is just... lonely. So if I'm being honest, I guess part of me was kind of hoping that we might... get along."

"I fear that I dost not follow thy meaning."

"W-well, I mean... You look a bit bored, so if I wasn't imposing too much, I've been thinking it might be rather nice if we became... friends."

The Undead snuck a glance at her with a cringe prepared for what she expected to be immediate rejection. All she saw was Priscilla's unreadable expression, trained by countless years of essential solitude. In her nervousness and Priscilla's silence she kept talking.

"I-I mean I'm a girl. You're a girl. We must have things in common, right? We're similar in other ways too, I think." Outcasts. She didn't say it, but Priscilla understood immediately. "Besides, you're not human, right?"

Priscilla immediately tensed. This was what she had been waiting for. Now this Undead would reveal her true purpose—the reason she wanted to get close to Priscilla. Of course it would come to this. She'd known without a doubt, but why was it that she still felt a pang of disappointment? Betrayal, even? Like some long dormant part of her had roused itself only to be quashed in its waking moment.

"I mean, if you're not human, then you won't go Hollow on me."

The undead finally turned silent and looked to the side, anxiously awaiting Priscilla's reply. Priscilla, for her part, found her preconceptions thwarted along with her remaining inhibitions, and her response from there was surprisingly quick.

"Thou art... truly strange, Undead. But I find myself not in opposition to what thou hast proposed. In addition I beg of thee to forgive my prior rudeness. With regards to thine gift, I accept it with more gratitude than thou mayest be able to surmise."

The Undead grinned.

"You could have just said 'sure' and 'thanks', you know."

Priscilla—shocking herself in a way that she would have to contemplate later—smiled back.

"Well, thou hast much to attend to, I am certain."

"U-uh, yeah! That I do. I'll be, uh, getting to it now."

Thrilled at having gotten this much of a response, the Undead seemed eager to leave on a high note, and so with little more than a wave she practically ran past Priscilla to the edge of the tower. At the last second she turned around as if just having remembered something, but though her mouth opened, her words were drowned out as she tripped over her own feet and was sent spiraling down with yet another scream.


	3. Chapter 3

Priscilla was ready this time, and was unsurprised when it was her familiar Undead visitor who arrived yet again. However, it appeared this young woman was cursed in more ways than one.

"What... in Gwyn's name...?!"

She stumbled in with portions of her robes still aflame and most of her body singed and covered in soot.

"...Art thou well?"

The young woman flopped into the snow and tried to roll over. She had the strength to roll once onto her back, and then after a few failed attempts she rolled again and was back on her stomach. The lingering flames had been more or less snuffed or were burning out on their own. She spoke with her face still in the snow.

"...Yellow. With a hat—no, not a hat. A... towering monstrosity of fashion that ascended towards the heavens like some unholy... Oh gods, and the flames. The _flames_."

"It would appear that thou hast met King Jeremiah."

Priscilla cringed at the fury that quaked in the woman's voice.

_"So that's his name..."_

At least a minute of sporadic maniacal laughter followed, after which Karenthi finally pushed herself up onto her knees.

"So you know him?"

"King Jeremiah was once a man of extravagant power, tastes, and achievements. For reasons long forgotten by all but himself, he has chosen to remain within this world and defend me from any who would seek my harm. I am surprised that you have not encountered him before."

Wait, when did that happen? She'd just spoken more like she did when she was a child. Back before her mother had taught her how to present herself in Lordran's court. Back before she had been told that she must speak with deference and respect, and never to stand out or anger anyone. Back when she'd been told that she was an aberration, and she ought to act with the knowledge that everyone hated and feared her...

"Well I am happy to report that he is on the job." Karenthi rolled her eyes and looked down at her robes with a whimper. They appeared to have been quite nice, once upon a time. "Do you think you could put a word in with him so that he doesn't try to burn and flay me alive in my subsequent visits?"

"I shalt endeavor to do so, if the opportunity presents itself."

"I would like that." Still, if she had made it here, then it stood to reason that she had actually overcome King Jeremiah. That was no small feat. Priscilla regarded this young woman in a different light than she had before. Perhaps her fearlessness was not merely grounded in stupidity and bravado.

Perhaps...

"Anyways, I realized something last time, before I... well, unceremoniously tripped off the edge of the tower. We never introduced ourselves. I think your name's Priscilla, but only because I heard one of those bird things screech it at some point. And because I thought I heard one of those toxic exploding guys... moan it." She shuddered at the memory.

"Thou art correct. Such is my name." Was this when it was expected of her to ask for the Undead's name in return? She had not forgotten her court manners, but she had already learned that such conventions did her no good with this particular young woman. "And what is thine name?"

She beamed.

"Karenthi!" There was a pause while Karenthi figured out what Priscilla was waiting for. "Oh, there's nothing else. I don't have a surname, I mean." Priscilla looked curious. Karenthi shrugged and decided to go on. "I wasn't born to any of the nations of the world. I was born to, well, pirates, if we're being honest. I was raised in Vinheim, but even then I was never allowed to take on the name of my adopted family. Oceanborn, they called me. It was a kinder way of saying that I was of a birth below even the commoners, but the elites of Vinheim have a knack for making their false politeness sound even more insulting."

"How shalt I refer to you, then?"

"Oh, just Karenthi is fine. I don't think I'd want anyone to call me Lady such-and-such even if I did have a surname. People are much too attached to that sort of thing. I never understood it."

Priscilla nodded in understanding.

"Very well then. Though I suspect you would have done so regardless, I ask that you call me simply... Priscilla."

"Really?!" She was so expressive that Priscilla found it hard not to chuckle. "Then you're in the same sort of boat?"

There was a gentle nod.

"Though they made not even an attempt to disguise mine. Priscilla the Crossbreed."

She regretted saying it the moment it left her lips. She hadn't heard that name spoken aloud in so long...

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you tell me. Priscilla, then. Just Priscilla and Karenthi. I like the sound of that."

How _did_ this girl manage to distract her so quickly from these dark thoughts? Priscilla had been rightfully afraid that conversation of any description would bring back a flood of memories that she wanted nothing to do with, but somehow when she spoke of these things with Karenthi, the pain associated with them seemed very distant.

"Oh! I brought something." As she rummaged through her pack Karenthi's gaze suddenly went dark. "I swear if Jeremiah singed even a corner of... Oh that lucky bastard." She took a smaller bag from within her pack and pulled it open, revealing an old and worn wooden board made of alternating black and light oak colored squares in a large grid. Karenthi opened two more smaller sacks and dumped out two piles of stones—one set painted red, the other painted black.

"Have you ever played checkers before?"

Priscilla found herself kneeling down and pulling her skirt under her knees as a cushion against the snow dusted stone.

"Have I ever played checkers..." She repeated Karenthi's question with the hint of a smirk on her lips. "I am not so old as to have been trapped here since the dawn of time, young Undead."

But as she started arranging her pieces on her side of the board, she noticed Karenthi come to a complete halt.

"Is something the matter?"

"Priscilla, your hands... They're beautiful." Karenthi leaned forward and tentatively reached out. She gripped them in her own much smaller hands before Priscilla could pull them back.

"Your skin's so soft. Heh, it's a bit cold, but a really nice kind of cold. Not biting or harsh. It's just... calm. Yeah, I think that's the word. Ah!" Karenthi suddenly pulled back and looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have just done that! I wasn't even thinking, I just... went with it. I shouldn't have—"

"It was nice."

Karenthi's apology was silenced. Priscilla pressed her own hands together and placed them against her chest.

"It was warm."

That was all she could say, and Karenthi stared with wide eyes as a single crystal tear rolled down Priscilla's cheek. As the weight of the moment struck her, Karenthi suddenly realized she was crying too. She angrily wiped her eyes only to find that the bit of sleeve she'd been intending to use had been completely singed away. That set her to angry muttering, and she returned to arranging her pieces and hoping not to embarrass Priscilla by gawking at her any further.

They played more or less in silence, though Karenthi did start to vent her frustration a little after Priscilla won the first twenty games in a row. It didn't help when Priscilla tried to explain that checkers was a trivialized game and that Karenthi should have at least been able to force a tie.


	4. Chapter 4

Karenthi paced back and forth across the tower with a stick in her hand, dragging it angrily through the snow as she vented her frustration. It appeared her most recent endeavor had not gone well.

"It's as if they _expected_ me to go that way! I thought I was being clever, trying to run around those slanted supports and get into the palace from the side. But just as I thought I was going to hit the jackpot, out of nowhere I was suddenly speared by an arrow that was longer than I am tall. Needless to say, it was heavy enough to sweep me off the thin scaffolding and I was graced with a lovely view of lower Anor Londo before I was splattered into an inglorious heap of Undead." The stick scraped harder against the stone and Karenthi's free hand clenched. "Sure enough, when I made it back, I noticed two—_two!_—knights against the side of the palace with bows that were just..." In exasperation she was forced to simply gesture as to their size with a spreading of her arms. "I tried running up, but it was like those bastards could read my mind! They knew whether I would stop or keep running, and they led their shots perfectly!" Karenthi gave a bit of a whimper amidst her rage. "I've been getting so competent lately that I almost forgot what it felt like to have my limbs torn off or my chest punctured by something the size of a lamppost."

Despite Karenthi's obvious dismay, Priscilla found it harder and harder not to laugh at the rather animated retelling of her mishaps. If Karenthi noticed Priscilla covering her mouth and trying to stifle her chuckles, she didn't seem to care. If anything it seemed as if she started playing up her dramatization even more.

"Then, after what had to be a dozen tries and a dozen painful deaths, I finally managed to weave through all of their shots! In a sudden awakening of skill that I didn't even know I possessed, I even managed to jump over one and then cartwheel past another. After that I ignored the knight on my left and headed right. He shot another arrow not more than a dozen feet in front of me but I slid under it. I had him. I drew back my sword and rushed him, ready to skewer him and then kick his corpse off to join all of mine. But then at the last second he dropped his bow and pulled a shield _out of nowhere_. My sword ricocheted off, snapped in half, I lost my balance, _and fell off AGAIN_."

She threw up her hands as Priscilla fell to outright laughing, imagining a furious Karenthi screaming hateful profanities all the way down the side of one of Anor Londo's towers.

"And then to add insult to countless, agonizing injuries, I found Solaire once I finally made it inside. Just sitting there, like it was nothing! That accursed man... Every time I'm impressed with myself for getting somewhere, I find him one step ahead of me looking just as fresh and unbothered as ever." Karenthi sighed and appeared to have finally lightened up about the entire ordeal. Priscilla's amusement was infectious, and the battered Undead even found it in herself to crack a smile in hindsight. "Anyways, I should be getting some more answers soon about this whole confounded 'Chosen Undead' nonsense. Now that I've made it inside, I can't be far from Gwynevere."

Priscilla was startled by that.

"Lady Gwynevere... is still in Anor Londo?"

"That's what everyone keeps telling me. Oh, you probably knew her, right? She must be quite selfless if she's stayed here all this time even when the other gods left, just to wait for the Chosen Undead to arrive."

Priscilla frowned at that. In fact, she was plunged into thought deep enough that she nearly forgot about Karenthi for a few moments. Karenthi, donning a pouting face even though Priscilla wasn't looking, decided that she would not be ignored so easily.

"Speaking of people you might know, I've met possibly the most obnoxious creature in the entire world."

Karenthi's voice was a gentle jolt that pulled her back from the precipice of memories she had nearly fallen into.

"Hm? The most obnoxious... Alright, I find myself curious. To whom have you bestowed this exceptional honor?"

"He calls himself Frampt."

Priscilla clapped both hands over her mouth only just in time. Her shoulders shook as she tried with all her might not to burst into a fit of laughter. It was Karenthi's fault for getting her silly only a few minutes before. Karenthi just raised an eyebrow and cracked a nasty grin.

"Oh? So he was just as weird back then too?" Karenthi squared her shoulders and prepared her best imitation. "Hrmgglgrlgrm, ahem! I am the preeminent and superfluous primordial serpent, Lord Earl Kingseeker Frampt the third!" She'd gotten Priscilla to lose it as soon as she started, and with that triumph she had absolutely no intention of stopping. "Elegant and—hrgarumphlgr—dignified beyond compare, I have arisen from my strange little hole in the ground to inform you, oh moldy and chosen Undead, that it is you who shalt ring the bells! I... I shall... tell you more of your indomitable quest... after I have... had a short... zzzzzz."

Karenthi lolled her head to the side and shut her eyes, performing the loudest and most outrageous snoring she could manage before suddenly snapping her head upright.

"Habrrrrumgph! Fair voyage, chosen Undead! I mean, fair morning and well met! Irregardless of the dangers you have surely faced during my exaggerated slumber, I am glad to see you have returned to my scales—er, my side! Yes, to hear my demonstrable advice and—"

Karenthi finally gave up and fell back against one of the tower pillars to join Priscilla in hysterical giggling at her own absurdity. It was an entire minute before either of them could refrain from giggles for more than a few seconds at a time.

"...Karenthi, I believe... that more than half of those words do not mean what you think they mean."

"Ah hah... hah... Oh man, that's—wait, are you being serious?"

Priscilla just took a deep breath and gave a long and contented sigh while managing to finally suppress any further giggles.

"You have a talent."

Karenthi bowed, her wide grin betraying any attempt at modesty.

"I know. I'm so glad you've met him. Otherwise that entire routine would have been wasted."

"Then I suppose I may say that I too am glad to have met him, if only for this very moment to have come about." But even Karenthi's act hadn't fully deterred her earlier line of thinking, and Priscilla began to muse on her past again. This time, however, she did so aloud.

"The Primordial Serpent was a prominent figure in the court of the Gods. He was harmless, if a little... outspoken. It was common knowledge that Frampt was not to be trusted with secrets, no matter how small." She gave what might have been a derisive chuckle. "Though despite his penchant for unwittingly sharing truths that others wishes to remain veiled, he was remarkably adept at speaking _untruth_ when it suited him. I once overheard him talking to one of Gwyn's knights. He lied so smoothly and with such innocent-sounding confidence that I had a fleeting moment of belief in his words even though I knew them for certain to be false. I began to wonder then if some of his stupidity was in fact something of an act."

Seeing Priscilla growing more pensive and subdued, Karenthi tried yet again to divert that mood and move them back to the tone their conversation had possessed only minutes before. To do so she had to temporarily push aside the very interesting bit of information Priscilla had just given her. Properly pondering that would have to wait...

"Well if some of it was an act, then I propose that it was a very, very small portion."

That got Priscilla to smirk.

"Horribly rude though it may be, I am quite inclined to agree with you."

She regaled Priscilla next in tales of her encounters with a man named Lautrec, and amused herself with what she believed to be a very good imitation of him as well. Though she did play down just how satisfied she had felt when, after hunting him down only hours before, she had finally plunged her katana through his chest. Karenthi then challenged Priscilla to a card game she'd recently learned from Andre. To her immense delight, Priscilla had never played the game before. And to her even greater despair, Priscilla still defeated her six times in a row.

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Thanks to everyone reading this! My plan is to have about 8-10 chapters total, and I have the rest more or less already planned out. Grad classes, comprehensive exams, and teaching assignments are all adding up for a busier semester than I was banking on, but hopefully it won't be _too_ long between updates.


	5. Chapter 5

Karenthi had not visited in more than a month. She'd warned Priscilla before she left that she would be gone for some time, but given her previous habit of visiting every few days Priscilla was starting to get a bit uncomfortable.

Not lonely, of course. Just... antsy. Maybe even a little bored. But certainly not lonely...

That conclusion failed, however, to align with how Priscilla found herself turning suddenly at various sounds, mistaking them for footsteps only to realize it had merely been a gust of wind or the thump from an accumulation of snow on some high tower finally sliding off.

And yet with all this nervous expectation, when Karenthi _did_ return Priscilla somehow missed the young woman until she was right behind her.

"Karenthi!" She immediately chided herself, sure that seeing her flustered and caught off guard was exactly what the mischievous young woman had wanted, but her surprise and excitement were suddenly tempered when she laid eyes on her friend.

Karenthi stood without any of her usual energy, her shoulders slumped and eyes downcast. Her arms were wrapped around herself absently as if warding off the cold that she had always ignored previously. Upon hearing her name, she looked up and a storm of thoughts seemed to break as she laid eyes on Priscilla.

"Priscilla. I... don't want to be the Chosen Undead."

Karenthi looked back down and her arms wrapped around herself tighter. Though concerned and curious, Priscilla waited patiently. She knew from the young woman's expression that there was nothing she could say at the moment. A thin layer of snow had accumulated on their hair and shoulders before Karenthi spoke again.

"I want to tell you what happened. Will you listen to me...?" Priscilla nodded reassuringly. Still fighting over her emotions, Karenthi's face changed rapidly back and forth between sorrow and anger. "I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I didn't mean for that to happen, but I... Well, I went to the past."

With an irritated sigh she regained a bit of her usual self.

"I feel like an idiot even saying something that absurd, but I swear to you that it's the truth. I went to the land of Oolacile some hundreds of years ago, pulled there by a malevolent force. Do you want to know something even crazier? I... had fun."

Her face lifted a bit.

"It was like a fairy tale, Priscilla, and I was the hero. Oolacile was a wild mystery—a fantasy that was untamed and beautiful in all the ways that Lordran with its death and brokenness will never be. In Oolacile I... was free. I wasn't the Chosen Undead. There were no Bells of Awakening, no Queen of Sunlight, no Kingseeker—I was just Karenthi Oceanborn, and before me lay a shattered world that that was crying out for aid."

With the cause of her recently subdued demeanor seemingly forgotten for the moment, Karenthi was nearly beaming as she swept out her arms.

"I struck down the shadow of the fallen knight Artorias, giving his soul its long overdue rest and delivered his remains to the proud woman who had loved him. I bore witness to his friend, the legendary Hawkeye Gough as he—though completely blind—downed the dragon Kalameet with a single arrow from his monstrous bow! And I...!" Like a bitter wind snuffing out a burgeoning flame, Karenthi's exuberance vanished just as quickly as it had arrived. "...I saved Artorias' beloved companion Sif from the horrors of the Abyss and then fought beside him against Manus, the Primeval Man."

Priscilla fought off waves of nostalgia at the array of names Karenthi had so casually fired off. Artorias, Ciaran, Gough—even Kalameet. As unbelievable as it seemed, Priscilla found no cause to doubt Karenthi's tale. Lodran's fracturing left many unusual possibilities in its wake.

But why had her tone so suddenly changed, she wondered.

"They loved each other; Sif and Artorias, I mean. Even in his growing madness, Artorias had known that saving his faithful companion was worth the loss of his blessed shield: the only thing that could ward off the horrors of the Abyss. With the last of his strength and sanity, he protected Sif in the hopes that someone—anyone—would find their way to that forsaken place and rescue him. And did you know? For years... and years and years and years, Sif proudly stood watch over Artorias' grave, protecting that sacred place from any and all who would dare to defile it." She grit her teeth and whispered while clenching her fists. "I would have left... I would have walked away. I didn't want whatever he was protecting. No treasure was worth...!"

"What happened, Karenthi?"

Karenthi appeared to try to calm herself with limited success.

"When I returned, I went to find the place where I had slain Artorias. I wanted to pay my respects in my native time now that I knew how great and selfless a warrior he had been. Sif... was there. Sif was... Why? Why did he have to... Who told him? Who told him that when the Chosen Undead arrived, he was duty bound to fight them to the death?! He recognized me, Priscilla! Though for me it had been but hours, for Sif it had been years beyond count! And yet he knew... He knew and he howled mournfully because he was bound to... to..."

She suddenly threw something at the ground. A small ring clattered across the stone surface with a tiny puff of powdered snow.

"It wasn't worth it! Kings and souls and sacred quests and all of it be damned! I slew Artorias to save him! I gave him rest and then carried out his mission in his place. But I will not murder and destroy for the sake of, of trinkets! Sif..." her anger barely kept pace with her grief "was beautiful...! He was proud, loyal, and gentle. He was the purest being I have encountered in all of Lordran and I... I killed him! I tried to leave but he stopped me! He practically begged me to fight him, wanting to honor his master's legacy but knowing that he must give up the treasure that rested with him. Who told him that?! Who decided that was to be his fate! Who...! Who..."

Karenthi finally exhausted herself and sunk to her knees with her head lowered. Priscilla knelt down in front of her. In a gesture that would have been awkward any other time due to their difference in size, Priscilla wrapped her pale arms around Karenthi and gently stroked her hair.

"I am so sorry, Karenthi."

They remained in silence. Karenthi did not cry, nor did the tension leave her, though she did lean into the embrace. Priscilla eventually spoke.

"Do you need to cry?"

"I already did. I stayed with him as he died. I cried until I'd nearly rinsed the blood from his white fur." She felt Karenthi shake her head. "I'm sorry for shouting and screaming like that. I'm just... so angry."

"I don't believe that it's necessary for friends to apologize to each other for such things."

Karenthi backed out of the embrace and, looking up at Priscilla, managed a smile.

"Thank you." With those words and a heavy sigh, Priscilla was happy to finally see some of the tension leave her. "...I have to find a new sword."

"I noticed that you did not have it with you. What happened to it?"

"Nothing... I just never again want to hold the weapon that slew him." Another long but not uncomfortable silence passed between them before Karenthi sat up. "I need to go."

"What will you do?"

"Ornstein and Smough await me. They stand as the final gatekeepers to Princess Gwynevere herself." She scowled. "From what I know, Ornstein seems to be an honorable warrior. Yet again, I am forced to slay someone I would rather reason with. Why must everything in Lordran be solved with blood?"

Not for the first time this day, Priscilla wished that she could answer one of Karenthi's rhetorical questions. But the questions the young undead voiced aloud were ones she had no answer for either. What had happened in the many eras during which she had been bound within this prison? What truths had been buried and what lies spun atop them? Concern for Karenthi's wellbeing aside, Priscilla was personally invested in the young woman's quest.

Even if Karenthi herself didn't know it.

"Karenthi."

"Hm? What is it, Priscilla?"

There she was, already with a lift in her shoulders and a bit of a spring in her step. None of her grief had left her, and yet she was ready to forge ahead. Were all humans as strong as her? Priscilla doubted as much.

"Are you truly set upon seeing Lady Gwynevere?"

"I am. I... have to know what this is all about. I at least need to know why Sif had to die. The Dragonslayer and the Executioner are ferocious opponents." She gave a wincing grin. "I tested their strength a few times before I was whisked off to Oolacile, and the outcome wasn't very pretty. But I'm stronger now. Heh heh, in more ways than one I suppose." She pumped her fist into the air as she gave way to a spreading grin. "I'm sorry to leave in such a hurry, Priscilla. But I can't just sit around now that there's something I have to do. And again, thank you. For listening to me. For comforting me. For just... being my friend. You know, I think I would have given up not too long ago if I hadn't met you."

As she was wont to do, after saying something she found embarrassing, Karenthi waved and hastily turned away towards the broken platform at the edge of the tower. Priscilla heard her muttering about the pain of having to find a new weapon and wondering where she should look.

"Karenthi. Please wait a moment."

She turned in surprise and seemed to brace herself. It really was adorable how awkward she could be at the right moments.

"I have yet to be entirely honest with you, Karenthi, and I will keep some things to myself for a little longer. But suffice it to say... that I wish you to succeed. Not only for you own sake, but partially for mine as well."

Karenthi brightened at that.

"Really? Well if I'm fighting for both of us, then I definitely can't afford to lose."

Priscilla chuckled.

"If you keep offering to do things for me so quickly, then you'll never give me the pleasure of asking." Karenthi looked bashful at that. "Thank you."

Karenthi nodded with a much calmer look than she'd had during the entire visit.

"Wait for me, alright? I'll be back soon. I'll sort all this nonsense out, and then we'll be able to go back to having fun. I have a new game sitting back at Firelink that I'm pretty sure I can finally beat you at."

"I look forward to it, Karenthi."

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~Apologies for the huge delay in getting back to this. Hope you enjoy, and thanks as always for reads/reviews!


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